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MUMBAI:Reliance Industries (RIL) has implemented five-day work weeks from the earlier six days, as the oil-to-telecom conglomerate aims to retain senior and overseas executives and synchronises HR policies with those of partner BP Plc.

However, the weekly working hours remain unchanged at 45, as staff will now have to put in nine hours a day, instead of 7.5 when they worked Monday to Saturday. RIL staff will now work from 9.30 am to 6.30 pm, or suitable times on manufacturing sites depending on shift requirements. The five-day week has been effected for staff across all group companies, said Chief Human Resources Officer Prabir Jha.

"This is part of an organisation transformation initiative launched at RIL to make working simpler," he said. "Reliance is looking at an upgrade of its people processes and practices to prepare it for the next wave of growth." The process of shifting to a five-day week started in April, but was completed only recently, said a person aware of the change. Now all employees and contractors of the company get a two-day weekend and mandatory leave, the period for which is still to be defined, he said.

The company has also simplified its leave structure and set aside contingency leave of six days by substituting casual leave and reducing sick leave. RIL employees can club any of the off days they are eligible for and there is no restriction on the number they can take together, the company told employees in an internal note. Earlier, there were restrictions on clubbing sick and casual days with other leave. In spite of mandatory leave, privilege leave can still be encashed if not taken for a long period.

The move is partly an attempt by RIL to retain some of the senior and overseas talent the company has been hiring, said a person with knowledge of the matter. Jha said RIL needs "to proactively reorient our practices to the new-age employees and remain the preferred talent destination."

The move was driven by senior executives at Reliance Jio Infocomm, the group's telecom unit. "We also see a need to look at talent differently in our fast-growing consumer-facing businesses," Jha said.

RIL has borrowed from the human resource practices at BP with which it had tied up over three years ago. Chairman Mukesh Ambani had mentioned at earlier RIL annual general meetings that a synchronisation of HR practices was being planned.